A Spotlight on Orphan Black’s Villains

BEWARE: I spoil.

Yes, I drew that on Paint. Yes, it looks like a 10-year-old made it, and so what? It’s a completely accurate depiction of the relationships between major groups in Orphan Black.

There’s so much talk about the clones because they’re the stars of the show, but not nearly enough about the people that make their lives a living hell.

On one hand, we have a set of crazy religious extremists, who believe that our beloved clones are an abomination, an insult to God and his creations. On the other hand, we have a set of crazy scientists that see the clones as scientific goldmines. I’m assuming each would want nothing more than to cut them all open and play with their parts, so it’s safe to say, the clones are stuck in the middle. Kiss those dreams of a normal life bye-bye, Alison.

How about we start with the Dyads since we know the most about them:

• Rachel Duncan This one. Rachel is the stone-cold “proclone” working with the Dyad Institute. Not much about her is known, but whenever she enters a scene, she serves us ultimate bitch face with a side of snide. It’s assumed that she was raised self-aware because her adopted parents were Susan and Ethan Duncan, scientists that worked for the Dyads on Project LEDA (This conclusion was also drawn by that attitude of hers). When she was first introduced, I thought Rachel was the one commandeering the Dyad ship, but after last episode, when we discovered that even Queen Rachel had a monitor, I doubt she’s really the one in charge. If anything, the illusion of power they give her is probably to give her an air of superiority. It’s no better than the brainwashing that the Prolethians did to Helena. I’ve never been on board with Rachel, but she definitely got a lot more interesting when I found out that Daniel was actually cracking her back on the regular. I wonder if they’ll show her reaction next week when she gets home and sees his bloody body on her nice carpet. You know Sarah and Helena probably just it there. She’s probably going to have to get her carpet replaced. It’d be nice to see her show a little bit of emotion, even if it’s something like: “Clean up this mess, Troy” or “Troy, call the maid” in her monotone voice.

• Dr. Aldous Leekie (or Old man Leekie as I call him) does not WOW me. He seems like someone’s grandfather, but he’s actually the boss at the Dyad Institute. He gave Cosima her own lab (although it was a dusty mess), and relatively won’t hurt the clones because he has this weird mother complex when it comes to them. Of course, he’s completely on board with making them lab rats and maybe even harvesting their parts. We’re only four episodes into season two, but I can’t take him seriously. It also doesn’t help that Cosima seems to think he’s a joke too. I think it’s because she’s gotten more comfortable in her surroundings, but in the first season, she had some admiration of him that was borderline attraction. I’ve always thought he and Delphine might’ve had something, but OB never brought it up. I’m expecting some ruthlessness from Leekie within the next few episodes as we start to learn more about Project Leda.

• Sexy Paul Dierden Originally Beth’s monitor, Paul and Sarah had a steamy relationship first season that has died down to nothing. He was a marine, but due to an accident in Afghanistan that took the lives of other marines, he’s currently being blackmailed into working for the Dyad. He’s stopped monitoring Sarah and is being kept closer to Rachel (grooming for new flunky status?). I can’t wait to see his face next week. We haven’t seen Paul since the first episode! Alright, Club, I hear you. Why is Paul on this list? I’m putting Paul on this list because for starters, he was with the bad guys, then he became Sarah’s puppy, and now he’s with us. Also, I foresee him being sketchy. I know his work with the Dyads is all an act, and he’s really Team Sarah, but once he finds out that Cal is on that team too, I don’t see it ending well.

• Donnie Hendrix I can’t stand Donnie. I just cannot stand him. Everytime I see him, I ask myself why. Why is he here? Go away, Donnie. He’s supposed to be a monitor, but the guy is so aloof. if you had the audacity to compare him to Paul, you would put Donnie to shame. Married to Alison and the father to two adopted children, Donnie has done nothing but effectively put Alison in rehab and threaten to take her children away. I’m just not even going to talk about him anymore. There’s nothing else to say.

• Delphine Cormier Calm down, clonesbians. I don’t trust Delphine as far as a snail can throw a truck. I don’t like Cophine. In fact, I feel like much of the rallying behind Cophine in the first place is due to the lack of lesbian couples on TV. I’ll stop bashing he, but I just want to say that if Delphine gets hit by Cal’s truck next week, I’m not going to give a flying shoe. She was positioned in Cosima’s life by Dr. Leekie to be her monitor. One of the reasons I’m holding a grudge for Delphine is because she acted so disgusted when she found out that Cos was interested in her first season, and she even CRIED after being with her. I mean, hoe don’t act like you didn’t want that! The main reason she and Paul are on this list is because, regardless of their current standings with the Dyad Institute, they were originally employed as monitors.

Moving onto the contenders, let’s take a look at those psycho Prolethians. Info is a tad less for these guys because last season was mostly about the Dyads.

• Tomas Little is known about Tomas, except that he’s just crazy as hell. He brainwashed Helena into thinking she was the original clone, and it was her duty to murder all of her sister-clones. He also encouraged self-mutilation as a form of repentance and abused her. The man trapped her in a cage once! While many people are scared as hell of Helena, they also love her because she’s like the friendly giant. She wants a family and love, but she has no idea how to get it. Plus, her moral compass is a bit skewed to say the least.

• Henrik Johanssen & Other Creepy People on Farm Henrik is the leader of a small community of Prolethians in the middle of nowhere. They’re (dairy?)  farmers, and they might be polygamous. When these guys came onto the scene, I looked at them like Helena’s saving grace. They seemed to care about nourishing her back to health and incorporating her into their community. I mean, for starters, they killed Tomas which was good in my book. Only thing is that they’re equally as insane as Tomas, they just don’t condone self-harm. It’s clear that they believe the clones are an abomination, but Henrik’s breed of Prolethianism has to do more with merging science and religion. That’s the only way I can explain that mess with Helena’s eggs. Imagine my surprise when these hicks had a lab!

Okay, the pain is over. We don’t ever have to speak about these monsters ever again, but I figured a good run-down on the who’s who was a necessity before we get deeper into the madness. Be on the lookout for a new OB article next week on episode 5: Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est.

Happy Breathing, Clone Club!

Possibly Related Posts:

• The Wild Robot: An Incredible Animated Movie
• Foundations: The 5 Best Blue Cards
• Friday Fiction: Fantasy Tale Hat
• Foundations: The 5 Best White Cards
• Rogue Protocol: Best Murderbot Book Yet